Field women in your strongholds – MP tells NDC, NPP

Political parties are to blame for the less number of women representation in Parliament, Member of Parliament for Ablekuma Central, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has said.

The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which are the two main parties bear the responsibility because they ultimately decide who they field as candidates for general elections.

She made the comment while discussing Ghana’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on women’s full and equal participation in politics and the target set by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Currently there are 35 women in Ghana’s Parliament and this represents 12.73 per cent, a clear short of the 30 per centre presentation set by the IPU.

The figure is an increase of 6, as against the election 2012 figure of 29, where 133 women contested 102 parliamentary seats.

Many including political parties blame the women for not offering themselves for positions when approached.

But Ursula Owusu on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Monday said women were not being offered the opportunity to serve.

She bemoaned how women constituted more than 50 per cent of Ghana’s population but their share of political and public office appointments was insignificant.

The Ablekuma Central MP said though measures such as Affirmative Action and nomination of women into public offices taken in recent times is laudable, they have only made minimal impact.

The only way to promote women in politics, Ursula Owusu suggested, is for political parties like the NDC and NPP to “field women in their strongholds”.